Bitter Taste
by Violet Hyena
Summary: Dean never stayed by Sam's side. Castiel fell and followed Dean. Dean never talked to Gabriel. And Sam always says yes to Lucifer. This is Gabriel's life after the Apocalypse. (The End verse. Past Sabriel. Gabriel and Lucifer centered fic.)


This is Gabriel's part in The End verse. It's always been in my head that when ever Gabriel looked into the future, he knew that it wouldn't be Sam always looking back at him.

* * *

"Now this is beautiful." Lucifer traced the feathered tips of a rose, which was a full blood-red rose, with lingering dew in the morning. A smile creased on Lucifer's mouth and he glanced up at the large concrete building where nature was reclaiming the flaking paint with full leaves and vines; slowly creeping up the wall. One man sat on top of the building, watching him from the flat roof top. He wasn't a crote, not even really human anymore. He was an angel they called Gabriel, and a deity they called Loki, "It's amazing what will grow when you leave it to be itself." Lucifer slid a thumb down his crisp, white suit, which he still admired ever since he took it from a man over 4 years ago.

Gabriel said nothing, he was stripping the bark from a young birch twig, the green giving way to the scent that reminded him of his favorite candies. But they didn't make candy anymore. No chocolates, no cakes. No creams, no soda pops. There weren't even any more Twinkies. Yes, he could manifest something from memory, but it was nothing like the human made concoctions that he once enjoyed.

"I'm rather glad you decided to stay." Lucifer walked up the path and his wings lifted himself to the rooftop. His sleek dress shoes touched down on the roof, where there was Lucifer's personal patch of flowers. It was a sight to see, the richest example of color that had been gathered from all over the world. Bright speckled tiger lilies, deep velvet violets, daffodils that bloomed and nearly glowed when the sun hit upon it, "It's nice to have family to talk to. I mean, yes, you're rather quiet as of late, but then again, I don't want to hear your outdated references all the time."

Gabriel snapped the barkless twig in two. Yes, outdated because they didn't make movies anymore. They didn't even make pornos anymore. Humans procreated now for... well, procreating purposes. like in the olden days. More children, better chance at surviving. Humans were no more than wolves now, trying to survive. Gabriel's lips wrapped around the twig, just for the hint of flavor that was like a looped ghost; never changing, always evanescence. He looked at the grove surrounding the house. Sickly non-humans were wandering like the undead just beyond the gates. They were not allowed inside Lucifer's garden.

"Mm, I think I'll expand," Lucifer mused, glancing at Gabriel's back, "The forest is getting wilder. It could do with more color. What do you think would look good between the green and brown?" Gabriel slowly looked around the unpruned woods.

"Plaid." Gabriel breathed around the twig, getting a wiff of birch, "Or polka-dots." Lucifer at least laughed, which was probably why Gabriel himself was still alive. He honestly posed no threat to the devil, but would forever provide with company and entertainment; which was not to Gabriel's benefit.

"Tactless and drove as always, Gabriel." Lucifer flicked his wrist up and observed the woods with the intensity of a painter, "I'm thinking roses. The wild ones are thriving this time of year. It could be lovely. It could look like a river of blood through the tree lines." Gabriel shrugged and turned on his seat, watching Lucifer inspect his lot, touching the vibrant colors.

"You could just make a river of blood instead of faking it." Gabriel rested his arm on one bent knee and Lucifer looked at him over his shoulder with amused brows and the eyes that... were just wrong on the body.

"But then that leaves nothing to the imagination." Lucifer smiled coolly.

"What's there left to imagine?" Gabriel's eyes took in Lucifer with a guilty look over. In all actually, Lucifer never looked better. The perfect breeding, the right primping. The clean suit, fit muscled body. Long brown hair and the face of Sam Winchester, forever young and beautiful. Lucifer scoffed and gestured to himself.

"My vision for the world, once the last scrapes of human civilization is removed." Lucifer spread his arms, encompassing the forest; the entire world, actually, "I shall make a mural, dedicated to humanity's final days. Poetry that I think even Father would appreciate the irony." Gabriel scoffed, though he meant not to. Lucifer liked to think he was good with creative things, but Lucifer was one of the oldest and even he didn't think of things like Shakespeare or Tolkien. Lucifer's poetry was nothing but blood, torture, and show tunes. And the show tunes were man made, Gabriel was assured. Lucifer glanced at him this time with a dangerous expression, where the mouth was amused and the eyes icy cold, "Something to say?"

"No. Just wondering what you'll do with China." Gabriel occasionally dabbled in stroking his brother's ego, because Lucifer was a grand narcissist. And Gabriel rather liked to avoid torture sessions, "Because there's only so much you can do with mass death by smog and disease. And it's a fairly large country." Lucifer's agitation eased and he gave a small smile.

"I can always fill it in with sweat shops and burning children. It spruces up any work of art. I'll have plenty of time to perfect it." Lucifer touched his fingers together thoughtfully.

"Yeah, all the time in the world." Gabriel muttered with a long intake of breath. He did not let out the road weary sigh that often plagued him. Gabriel stretched out on the edge of the roof, looking up at the dusky sky that always seemed to be stained dark or red. It was probably because of the harsher weather that Lucifer conjured, or maybe the gloom of hopelessness that he felt for things long past.

Gabriel often remembered stopping and observing the humans and the crazy things they would come up with. They had no wings, so they made flying machines. They had no telepathy ability so they created phones. They could not share a story with the touch of their fingers, but they made movies. And they made movies UP. They made things that were not-real, real. The human race was fallible and flawed, but sometimes they were better that way. They were tragic and still figuring out where to aim their puny little minds... but they made so many amazing things along the way. Gabriel had always been enthralled with the movies, the food, sex, drugs; the most hedonistic things that made humans seem so bad and yet so good.

Lucifer leaned over him, his hair framing his face over Gabriel. Gabriel blinked slowly up at Lucifer. He remembered when that body had a different soul inside it. One that cared about human things; like emotion, people, and love. Sam Winchester was the most flawed person Gabriel had ever known. He was primarily raised by an absent father, fought to be normal (and failed), and then was primarily guided by demons to the choices that would make him the perfect vessel. And Sam made all those wrong choices, but he'd never been bad. He did bad things, made the wrong choices, allowed revenge and anger to push him forward through life. But he was not spiteful. He did not look at the black and white. Sam just wanted others to be happy and normal, and Sam had just wanted a little bit of that too.

"Are you day dreaming again?" Lucifer asked wistfully and Gabriel breathed out that long held sigh of regret.

"Well it's kinda boring, sitting and watching plants grown when you know everything is going to be beautiful." Gabriel gnawed gently on the twig, just enough to break the woody flavor. it really didn't taste that good, but that didn't matter any more. Nothing tasted good anymore. Maybe he was still in the habit of sticking things in his mouth and chewing. It was hard to break that habit after several thousand years.

"Mm." Lucifer puckered his lips rather attractively, which Gabriel found slightly sickening because it was really Lucifer and not really Sam, "Missing Sam again?" Gabriel focused intently on Lucifer's forehead, determined not to give Lucifer the satisfaction of emotion. It was like rewarding a dog for biting the hand that fed it.

"Not more than usual." Gabriel spoke evenly. There was a constant increase of 'missing Sam' though, so it was truth enough. Yes, it was the body, which was insanely good looking for a human, but it wasn't Sam looking back anymore.

"Mm, I could let him out to play." Lucifer reveled in the offer with a sly grin, "He's still in here somewhere. I could dust him off and let you two mingle, like old times."

"No." Gabriel felt the burn of the offer he always turned down. Sam would be so lost and depressed if he did have control. And Gabriel couldn't face him again, not after declining Sam's pleading for help years ago. And if Gabriel did see Sam again, it would be so much harder to see Lucifer bury him again. Gabriel refused to fall apart for Lucifer's amusement.

"Mm, so difficult to please, brother." Lucifer tisked and stood, presenting the vessel with his hands fanning out, "What about this? You're still very interested in the body, are you not?" Gabriel covered his eyes with his hand and Lucifer laughed deeply in Sam's throat. Gabriel's throat and chest burned like Hades.

"No, you're my brother." Gabriel slid his hand down, removing the twig from his mouth and flicking it over the edge of the building. It tasted like nothing, not even wood. Nothing overpowered the taste of regret.

"But you like this body." Lucifer tempted, even going to far as to loosen a couple buttons, "A lot, from what Sam's memory banks show me..."

"Don't you have someone else to bother?" Gabriel grumbled, now irritated. Lucifer's smile was painted on with tight amusement.

"Just you, dear brother. Just you." Lucifer's fingers touched Gabriel's knee and Gabriel smacked it away with the sharpness of a whip. Lucifer only chuckled and looked back to his forest. Gabriel sat up, glaring after him. He rolled off the side of the building, wings setting him down on the ground with little more than a rustle of leaves. He looked up once, seeing Lucifer watching him with the cool smile with that ever drawing presence. Gabriel turned away and walked.

Where Gabriel went didn't really matter because the ground and everyone who walked on it was now Lucifer's. Trying to kill Lucifer now would only get him killed. Helping the humans now would just earn him a place on Lucifer's hit list; which was very short at the moment. Humanity was down to the last 10% of the species. Monsters were declining too. All souls went to Hell; do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. Gabriel chuckled dryly, missing that stupid board game. He disliked Lucifer's monopoly. He disliked everything, including himself. Regret was there when he thought of his brothers, staying neutral, not helping Sam and more. But what really made him dabble in summoning his sword and ending his own Hell on Earth was not standing up to his family and for humanity.

But he could not, because he knew he was a coward, and everything was already two minutes too late.


End file.
